In today’s Japan, private universities are the foundation of higher educa-tion. Table 1 shows the changes in the numbers of Japanese universities and university students from 1960 to the latest available for private universi-ties and national and public (prefectural and municipal) universiuniversi-ties. First, as can be seen from the most recent figures of 2018, there are currently 603 private universities where a total of 2,144,670 students are enrolled, accounting for 77% of all universities and 74% of all university students.
Both the number of universities and number of university students greatly surpass those for national and public universities, accounting for almost three-quarters of the whole, and it is no exaggeration to say that in Japan today, the provision of higher education cannot be accomplished without private universities.
Table 1:Changes in the number of universities and university students.
Source: Statistical Abstract (Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) 2018, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Year Number of universities Number of university students
Total National
and public Private (%) Total National
and public Private (%) 1960 245 105 140 (57) 626,421 222,796 403,625 (64) 1670 382 108 274 (72) 1,406,521 359,698 1,046,823 (74) 1990 507 135 372 (73) 2,133,362 582,749 1,550,163 (73) 2018 782 179 603 (77) 2,909,159 764,489 2,144,670 (74)
Looking at the population of 18-year-olds, the general age when students start their studies at university, the number of students admitted at univer-sities, and the percentage of students that were accepted at university from 1960 to the latest available: in 1960, when the economy began to grow rap-idly, the number of students that were admitted at universities was 160,000, and of the population of 18-year-olds (2,000,000 persons), only about 4%
advanced. However, in 1970, when the post-war baby boomers reached the
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age to attend university, the number of students that were admitted rose to 330,000, and the percentage of 18-year-olds (1,950,000 persons) that advanced increased to 17%. Furthermore, in 1990, when the children of the baby boomers advanced to university, the number admitted was 490,000, and the percentage of 18-year-olds (2,010,000 persons) that advanced was 24%.
In 2018, the most recent year for which data is available, 630,000 students were admitted, and 53% of the 18-year-old population (1,180,000 persons) advanced. (Statistical Abstract ,2018).
Corresponding with this trend and, as can be seen again from Table 1, in 1960, there were 140 private universities with a combined student body of about 400,000 students. This grew to 274 universities with about 1,050,000 students in 1970, increased to 372 universities with about 1,550,000 stu-dents in 1990; the 2018 figures, the latest available, show that there are 603 universities with about 2,140,000 students. On the other hand, the number of national and public universities increased from 105 with about 220,000 students in 1960 to 179 with about 760,000 students in 2018, but, compared with the huge rise seen for private universities, it can be said that this growth is relatively restrained. The changes in numbers of private universities and students since 1960 are closely linked to the percentage of students advancing to university. The post-war expansion of higher educa-tion opportunities would not have been possible without the expansion of private universities.
The graduates of these private universities, growing in number, are active in various areas of the Japanese economy and society today. Table 2 lists the ranking of the top 10 universities at which CEOs of listed companies in Japan studied. Out of these top 10 universities, six are private, includ-ing first-ranked Keio University (which alone has 298 former students who are now CEOs), showing that an overwhelming majority of employees in business and industry are supplied by private universities. In the political world too, in the past quarter of a century, excluding 2009 to 2011, all prime ministers attended a private university, and, in addition, the percentage is also high among professionals such as medical doctors, lawyers and certi-fied public accountants. Furthermore, there is an increase in the number of civil servants who attended private universities such as Keio University or Waseda University, a sector which was traditionally dominated by national university graduates.
Table 2:Ranking of the top 10 universities at which CEOs of listed companies in Japan studied. Note: There are a total of 3,708 listed companies in Japan. Source: Created using data published in Yakuin Shikiho
(Executive Officers Handbook; Toyo Keizai Inc.), 2019 edition.
Rank Name of university National/public
or private Number of CEOs
1 Keio University Private 298
2 Waseda University Private 193
3 The University of Tokyo National 192
4 Kyoto University National 104
5 Nihon University Private 80
6 Meiji University Private 77
7 Chuo University Private 71
8 Doshisha University Private 59
9 Osaka University National 56
10 Hitotsubashi University National 51
On the other hand, research, traditionally, was certainly centered around national universities. Of the members that make up Research University 11 (RU11), a group of 11 major Japanese research universities, nine are national universities, and seven of these are former imperial universities.
Keio University and Waseda University make up the two private universities in this group. In particular, research in the natural sciences, which requires extremely large research funding, is difficult to carry out at private univer-sities where public funding is small, and, other than Keio University and Waseda University, it is not easy for private universities to carry out research at a level comparable to the nine national universities. However, in social science fields such as economics, the research capabilities of private univer-sities are also improving and equals those of national univeruniver-sities.
In these ways, Japanese private universities play a notable role in pro-viding higher education that produces the workforce necessary to sustain the economy and society. Furthermore, from a research perspective, national universities have the upper hand when it comes to research in the natural sciences, but in terms of both quality and quantity of research in the social sciences and humanities and social sciences, private universities also play an important role. This means that the Japanese people are also maintaining
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universities that provide social benefits through the relatively small invest-ments made using taxes. It also means that students and their families are bearing much of the expense.